To get the free coffee, Monocacy said in a release that customers can either present an "I Voted" sticker or pledge to vote.

Matthew Hengeveld, who co-owns Monocacy Coffee Co. with Dan Taylor, said he has seen apathy about the midterm elections and hopes the offer will help to engage the community.

Such promotions have prompted some scrutiny recently: According to WHYY, the coffee chain Saxby's amended a similar free-coffee-for-voters promotion after it was informed that federal law forbids incentives for voting in elections where federal candidates are on the ballot.

Now, Saxby's will offer free to coffee to anyone on Election Day with or without proof of voting. However, such freebies have been common elsewhere, and The New York Times reported in 2016 that companies are rarely penalized for them.

Asked about the legal risk, Hengeveld said he thought the law didn't forbid freebies given to all voters. He added that Monocacy had no way to enforce the voting pledge, so anyone could hypothetically take advantage of the offer.

In any case, he said, encouraging people to vote was important enough to continue with the offer.

"I'm willing to take the risk," Hengeveld said. "I feel like it's important."

Hengeveld and Taylor started Monocacy Coffee Co. in 2015. Along with its own cafes, Monocacy's coffee can be found at local businesses like Jumbars, Molinaris, Bonn Place Brewing, Coffee House Without Limits.